1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to games and more particularly to board games in which players race along a path.
2. Background Art
Simple board games in which players race assigned tokens along a path in accordance with chance determinations have long been popular pastimes for younger children. Two examples of such popular prior art board games are the Milton Bradley Chutes and Ladders game and the Milton Bradley Candy Land game. Hayes U.S. Pat. No. 3,649,021 issued Mar. 14, 1972 includes a random chance determinator positioned in the center of a board containing a path along which players move their assigned tokens. In the Hayes game, when an instruction card directs, a ball is dropped down the upstanding central random device which has a number of possible exit patterns, some of which may disrupt the assigned tokens on the path. Goldfarb, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,206,925 issued June 10, 1980 discloses a board game having linear paths with pieces adapted to be knocked over assigned to each player for movement along a selected path, a movable housing is positiond at the beginning of each player's turn at one end of the path and a knob atop the housing is turned to determine how may spaces the piece may be moved along the path. From time to time, turning of the knob in the Goldfarb, et al. game will release and propel a wheeled vehicle down the path to engage and knock down the piece on that path. Spring U.S. Pat. No. 4,431,190 issued Feb. 14, 1984 shows and describes a wheeled device for producing a random output for use in games such that rotating two wheels by moving the device across a surface will cause a member to move from a nonindicating position to an indicating position in a random manner depending upon random rotation of one of the wheels with respect to the other. However, there remains a need for relatively simple board games in which players race assigned tokens along a path with the chance of a device moving randomly around the board disrupting their attempt to reach the end of the path.